Eagle's Wings
by chibii-sarus
Summary: What happens when in the Congress meeting Max finds out about the very first Avian hybrid experiment, Eagle Pass, was sold to the US government. Will their meeting bring about more peace or suffering? And will Eagle's past come back to haunt her? R
1. Prolouge

Midnight Flight

**Midnight Flight**

"So daddy. What's this surprise?" The little five year old asked beaming with her beautiful brown eyes and her long curly hair flowing in the wind as they approached a white building that was in the middle of no where. The man in the white coat gave her a smile as he brought her through the doors and down a hallway where more people in white coats were. She smiled and waved at some and some smiled back as others seemed too busy to noticed. She was led into a white room with an operating table and a lot of equipment were. This is where my nightmare began.

You know when you have a nightmare and you can just wake up alittle befuddled and roll over and go back to sleep. Well the thing is when your nightmare turns into a reality there is no wake up option. This terrible occurrence happened to me on my fifth birthday.

My name is Eagle Pass. It s the name I gave myself after my parents betrayed me. Welcome to my nightmare.

--

Ok people tell me what you think and I'll continue.


	2. Chapter 1: Childhood Gone

Childhood

**Childhood **

I woke up in the small gray dog crate like every day. My back hurt with my wings pressed against it and so did my nails from my talons. That day I had my DNA altered to be 5 avian and 95 human. I was always in so much pain form all the tests those damn white coats made me do. I was 14 now and I was still locked up in this prison called the School. There were other avian hybrids that were 2 but they were pretty far from me. They were also younger than me and taken at birth.

"They are so lucky not knowing who their parents are…" I thought to myself hugging my knees. The lights were still off and everyone was still asleep. I'm guessing that it was still night outside beyond these horrid walls if anything was even there. I let my talons out and started cutting away at the bars. I got pretty far until I heard a white coat approach my cage and immediately pulled in my talons. The male white coat was to busy looking at my papers on his clipboard to notice. I leaned against the side of the dog crate pretending to sleep and slowing my heartbeat to lure the white coat closer to my crate in curiosity. This was my chance.

Using my quick reflexes I punched the door of the crate and held the white coat by the neck having him dangle gasping for air. The other avian hybrids must have woken up as well because they rustled in their cages to look. There were six of them that I counted. I dropped the man. I had no time for saving people they had told me I was to save the world when I was younger but lately they had working on one of the other hybrids instead of me.

I ran through the doors hearing Erasers and white coats surging after me. One of them was Jeb. I hated that guy he was the worst white coat of all and nothing could ever change that. I ran through a pair of doors that led outside not knowing where it went to find a fenced in area with electric netting on top of that.

"Great. A trap." I thought aloud and unfurled my wings and extending my talons hopping I could break through the netting. I hit the netting as I surged upwards trying to ignore the pain flowing through my body. I felt a prick in my arm and everything got blurry and I fell to the ground and my wings were pressed against my back and my talons were drawn back in. I felt a bag go over my head and sickly sweet scent and my world went black.

I woke up and I had a blindfold on me and two erasers were holding me up. I heard two sets of footsteps enter the room and my blindfold was removed. The room was like an office with royal blue carpet and a mahogany desk with papers on it along with other stuff. There were chairs and couches in the room and some bookcases. There were so windows though to my misfortune and there was only one exit, which was guarded.

A man in an army uniform examined me with a white coat who had a clip board in his hand telling the officer information probably about me. The erasers were armed with guns along with the white cat just in case as a threat to me not to make a wrong move. The officer smiled and the white coat did as well and they shook hands and I was sat down in a chair and the erasers stood at the door while the white coat left.

"Welcome to the United States Special Service Commision Miss Pass." The officer said with a smile.


	3. Chapter 2: When Heroes Meet

A/N: All right people this is when my editing begins I'll just write down the scenes in the book and then I'm going to make it

**A/N: All right people this is when my editing begins I'll just write down the scenes in the book and then I'm going to make it my way get ready. JP owns Max Ride and the character but I own my character and the twisting plot. **

**When Heroes Meet**

_Present Time_

**Max POV**

You've all seen the Capitol Building in Washington DC, like in postcards right? It's the big white one with the dome on top that isn't the White House. Anyway, it's gigundo. We drove up in our black limousine, feeling like celebrities. Inside we were led through a series of hallways and stairs until we were in a large conference room with a great view of the gardens.

In the conference room, about twenty people sat around a big wooden table. One of the seats at the head of the table was empty. "Even in here people are late." I said to myself. Some of the people were in military uniforms. Everyone sat up and turned to stare at us when we came in, surrounded by Secret Service agents. I didn't even know I wanted to hold someone's hand until Mom laced her fingers in mine and gave a squeeze. Suddenly it all seemed better.

"Welcome. Thank you for coming." A tall man in an olive-green uniform came forward and solemnly shook Jab's hand, then Mom's, then all of us kids. "Please sit down. Would you care for something to drink? We have coffee, tea, soda, ice water . . . oh, and I see you brought your dog. A cute little Scotty." He smiled uncertainly, as if wondering why someone had let an animal into the building. I bit my lip, wondering if Total was going to mouth off. But he didn't, just seethed quietly and hopped up onto his own chair by Angel. The next hour was like, "This is your life, mutant bird kids!" They didn't have any pictures or film of us when we were little and still living in dog crates at the School. But the last six months were decently documented. They had films of us flying, way overhead, and footage of various fights with people, Erasers, and the latest heinous incarnation of enemies, the Flyboys. There was some footage of us just chilling, at Anne Walker's house in Northern Virginia. It made me tense up and get mad all over again. Last, there were about three minutes of choppy, grainy film that had been shot inside of Itex's picturesque German headquarters. It showed me squaring off against Omega, poster boy for pathetic losers. It showed the riot that some of the clones started, and the angry crowds of kids outside, breaking through the castle wall. It showed Ari dying. The film stopped and the dimmed lights rose. Shades lifted automatically, revealing the large picture windows again. Know I was in a totally rotten mood. It was bad enough that I was all dressed up like some fashion geek, but I'd managed to not think about Ari for about five minutes, and then I had to watch him die all over again. I snuck a glance at Jeb, who was white-faced, his hands clenched tightly around a pencil as he stared at the table. You six are most impressive." A woman in a tailored gray skirt-suit stood up and poured herself a glass of water. She smiled at us all, but it was the kind of smile that didn't reach her eyes. We've asked you to come here today because we're very interested in your future," said an older man. "We—the American government, that is--didn't know of your existence until quite recently. Now that we know, we want to protect you and also explore whether we can useful to each other." They were certainly putting their cards on the table. Usually there's a lot of mumbo jumbo about how special and unique we are, etc., but what they're always really getting at is: can we make you do what we want you to? So far the answer had always been, "Nope!" The man paused, looking at us one by one, as if waiting for a response. He got none. One way we could be useful to you would be for us to create a school, a place where you could live safely." A younger blond woman turned to us but aimed her words at Jeb and my mom. Like they made decisions for something or us. "You're very gifted at survival, but there are significant gaps in your education. We could fill in those gaps, help you realize your full potentials." Again there was a pause, while the government people waited for us to jump up and down with excitement over the idea of going to school. School, was, of course, an unfortunate word choice on their part.

"To what end?" My voice was clear, no wavering." Excuse me?" The young woman looked at me." What would you guys get out of it?" I asked. "Besides the sheer joy of helping us fulfill our potentials." we would get to study you, frankly," said a tall, lean man who, I kid you not, looked just like Bill Nye, the Science Guy. "You're like nothing we've ever seen before. The idea that human children can actually fly is mind-blowing. While you're at the school, we could study you, understand the physical changes that enable you to fly."

To what end?" I asked again. "So that you can make more of us?" The man looked genuinely surprised. "No," he said. "Just to—understand." I decided I liked him. Too bad he was one of them." Okay, say you get to study us," I said agreeably. "Somehow you get us to agree that it wouldn't be a complete nightmare for us to be hooked up to sensors while we run on treadmills, or hold our own in wind tunnels while you film us flying. Then what?"

Silence.

At that moment a woman with brown hair that faded to white at the top of her head walked in wearing a blue army uniform that had camoflauge on pants and a dark blue tank top with some streaks from what looked like blood. She looked like she was injured but her eyes were serious and unwavering. Almost like Fang's but hers were much more threatening. Her brown eyes felt like she was boring into my skull and I flinched and mom squeezed my hand.

"Max is there something wrong?'

"Just a little headache." I said shaking my head.

"Is it the Voice?"

"I'm not sure. This is different." I told my mom. The commander then addressed the girl.

"State your designation lieutenant."

"Lieutenant Eagle Pass of the Special Service Commission, sir." the girl said saluting to him.

"Miss Pass I would like you to meet the famous Maximum Ride and her family."

"What's so special about them commander that I should need to be here?"

"Yes Commander Lawrence why is Lieutenant Pass here?"

"I figured she would be interested about them being avian hybrids. She is an expert in this field. Correct me if I am wrong lieutenant."

"If you believe so commander." she said breathing heavily showing no weakness pressing her hand against her side which was the area that was wet with blood.

"I see you are injured. How did that happen?"

"I was undercover commander and your call caught me off guard. When a beeper goes off in a room with armed guards there is going to be gun fire."

"Sorry to hear that."

_Max get out of there now. There isn't much time to explain. _ The Voice said.

"Long time. No annoy." i said inside my head.

_This isn't a game Max. Who knows what could happen if the meeting continues._

_"Come on Jeb. Why don't you say this aloud if it's this important?"_

_Because I'm not Jeb Max but I am closer than you think unfortunately._

"Take a seat Luitenant. We just started to talking about the benefits of us helping each other." he said.

"That's okay commander I think I'll be okay."

"Good."

"If you don't mind me asking Commander what do you mean when you said that she was an expert in this area?"

"I guess I do have some explaining to do." he said and snapped his fingers and the girl was grabbed and the back of her shirt had slits in the back of it and feathers from what seemed to be wings could be seen coming out of the bottom of her shirt. "I thought an ex Itex scientist would have been aware of the merchandise being sold even though the Russian branch gave her to us. She has been quite useful. They said she should have died in a month or two but here she is six years later."

"How did they know she was going to die?"

"They said something about an expiration date..."

'Do you mind if I look?"

"If you touch me I'll snap your neck." the girl cried out struggling against the men and she fell to her knees from the exhaustion of blood loss.

"Go ahead Mr. Bachelor." the commander said and sure enough Jeb moved the girl's hair to see a date there. Jeb was wide eyed and looked at the commander.

"Find something of interest?"

"Yes but not a good thing let me asure you. The barcode on her neck along with the expiration date can be tracked. Valencia get the kids out of here!"

But it was too late. Flyboys burst in through the windows and blocked the exits. Eagle managed to get away from the two guards holding her and was slicing away at them. She had claws but were more like talons of a bird because they were sharp and curved. She was hit by a few tasers and then injected with a serum from what it looked like. The flock and I were trying to hold our own while protecting the officers and my mom. The battle ended with seven avian hybrids thrown in the back of a black van in cages. Life just seemed to suck that way.


	4. Chapter 3 Back Home

AN: Okay people here is chapter 4. A review is all I ask for. It can be good or bad I don't care. I don't own MR.

**Back "Home"**

I woke up to an unwelcoming smell of antiseptic and bleach smell. Oxygen was flowing into my nose to my lungs. I heard the beeping of the heart scale registering my heart rate. I slowly opened my eyes to see I was in an entirely white room. Max was in the room with me as well. She was chained to chair next to me struggling, the scratching metal catching my attention. ((AN: switching to 3rd person))

"Looks like they wanted to keep us together." Eagle said sitting up, the leather straps moving as she did. Max spotted numbers on her neck along with a barcode tattoo.

"If that's your expiration date, what's the barcode for?"

"I was sent to a special training facility when I was younger. It was called Manticore."

"So how long have you been with the US?"

"Six painful and antagonizing years." Eagle sighed and a door opened. Jeb walked in with a man in a pinstripe suit with a blue tooth in his ear. He had brown hair, which seemed to be graying. He wore oval rimmed glasses over his serious, impassive, deep blue, eyes which seemed like an ocean of knowledge boring into Eagle's skull.

"Don't forget to breath Alpha 102." The man said in a calm, commanding voice. Eagle took a breath obediently hearing the man call her by her experiment name. It relieved her a little, but not that much. To see him there shocked and enraged her.

"Why are you here?" she demanded.

"To get some answers. Now Alpha 102 where are the others?"

"I don't know. Dead probably."

"If you don't cooperate we'll have to do this the hard way."

"Bite me." She growled.

"Dr. Bachelor get two of my surgeons and tell them to bring my equipment."

"Right away Dr. Janseen." Jeb said walking out of the room. Dr. Janseen, the husband of Marianne Janseen, the head of Itex. But why was he here.

"What a pleasure to meet your acquaintance Maximum. Itex's first avian success that has been on radar. Until now." He said smirking.

"Shut up! Leave her alone! Your business is with me Arthur!"

"So much disrespect. Speak only when spoken to Alpha 10. Have you forgotten your training already? You may have been a weapon of the US but not anymore you belong to us again."

"I don't belong to anyone." She growled pulling at her restraints. "What do you want with me anyway?"

"I want to know where the others are."

"I already told you I don't know.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this the hard way but I guess I have no other choice." He said and the two white coats walked in with two large briefcases. They took off the sheets and the bed turned into a metal operating table that had metal restraints and a large black piece that covered Eagle right below her breasts to her lower abdomen. The surgeons switched form the leather to the metal and Eagle struggled contracting her claws. The black object that was on her seemed to be closing in on her waist and her breathing quickened and something was put in her mouth to keep her breathing. A metal object appeared near her left eye which kept it open and a laser like device was positioned above her eye.

"Now I'll ask you one more time before I put this on. Where are they?" he demanded and Eagle just glared. "Alright then. Turn it on." Eagle heard a button click and a red laser went into her iris. IT was there for about a minute with the heart rate chart moving frantically up and down until it finally slowed when it was turned off. The thing in Eagle's mouth was removed and her shallow breaths came from her mouth.

"B.. B.. Bite… me." She mumbled out of her gasps for air, her eyes fluttered closed as she lost consciousness.

"That's my girl. Foolish." He said and Max glared at him.

"You sick bastard! What did you do to her!?" she yelled at him and he turned to leave.

"You two are so alike. It's a shame." He sighed and walked out and his shiny black shoes clicking on the tile floor echoing through the halls until the doors closed to show again an almost silent white room. The room was still. Max fidgeted trying to break the handcuffs by rubbing them hard against the chair. Eagle shot up in the bed breathing heavily like she had just woken up from a nightmare. The operating table had changed back into a bed. She took a deep breath.

"Did he hurt you Max?" she asked in a worried voice.

"No I'm fine. What did they do to you?"

"It's a form of torture they use on prisoners of war to get information." The doors then opened and the two surgeons from before and five flyboys walked inside.

"Experiment Alpha 102 and Subject 6 will proceed to testing now." The first one said reading off the clip board. Then a Flyboy took off Max's handcuffs while another aimed a gun at her. When she was undone from the chair and her handcuffs were back on four Flyboys approached Eagle and started undoing the leather straps. She watched them as they did it. One of them then held her against a wall like a police officer would do and put reinforced handcuffs on her. The tiles were cold on their feet as they walked through the hallway into a room with a window with machines along the outside and computers and an empty room which seemed to be a wind tunnel.

"Subject six will go first." The white coat said turning the machines on and typing away. The Flyboys walked Max into the room and undid her handcuffs.

"Subject six open your wings so we can start the test." The other white coat said and I gave her a nod and she opened her wings. The wind tunnel was turned on at first with a fast changing current, the easiest. Then it changed to an empty room with no current, which made it hard. After what seemed like three hours the machine was turned off and the exhausted Max was dragged out of the room and leaned against the wall. The scientist motioned Eagle and she walked in the room handcuffs still on and opened her wings. The machine started off with low air pressure, so it was hard from the beginning. She pumped her wings up and down feeling the temperature changing from freezing to warm and precipitation to dry. After about the same amount of time Eagle stumbled out wet and freezing. A blanket was put around her, her teeth chattering.

"You okay?" Max asked worried.

"Just freezing. Don't worry about me." Eagle replied through chattering teeth and then they were led into a small office. Dr. Janseen was sitting at the mahogany desk in a black leather chair. Eagle stopped in the doorway before she was pushed forward.

"Sit down." He said to Eagle and Max motioning to the two chairs in front of the desk. The two of them sat down. Max glared at him and Eagle stared at her feet not making eye contact.

"So are you the new director of the school?" Max growled.

"Yes but no at the same time. I am in charge but not of the place you call the School."

"What do you mean?"

"Alpha 102 could answer that for you." He said glancing at Eagle and so did Max.

"Dr. Janseen is the head of an organization called Manticore which is similar to Itex. Since they were so similar when his wife was arrested he took over Itex. He has government funding and everything in this place."

"I see your telepathic powers are the same as always. Am I right Violet?" he said grinning and Eagle's handcuffs snapped and she stood up two Flyboys pushed down on her shoulders to make her sit down. "Temper. Temper."

"I'm still not telling you anything."

"Is that so? Huh" he opened a drawer and took out a small metal box. "I was hoping I could take this out again. It worked so well last time. It's to bad your little boy friend had to screw everything up. What was his name? Hmm…" Three flyboys held Eagle back.

"You son of a bitch. I'm going to rip your throat out!" she screamed at him.

"Take them to a new room, Dr. Heinz, and don't do anything until I give orders." He said addressing the white coat. Eagle was dragged out of the room trying to break free yelling swears and threats at him and the other Flyboy directed Max out.

The room they were put in this time looked more like a dungeon with gray metal walls surrounding them and a reinforced door. Max was thrown in and then Eagle was and the door was slammed. Eagle punch and kicked the door some were even enough to make a dent. After awhile a white coat along with armed flyboys came in and sedated her. She laid there motionless for a bout two hours. Max sat there looking at Eagle for awhile until she finally started to get up. She propped herself against the wall and Max looked at her.

"Eagle what's really going on?"

"If I told you Max, more like if anyone else knew, I don't know. I wish I did. All of this can be confusing. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"It's just been. I've never been really free before Max. You and your flock were free and got the good life. All by yourselves. Not taking orders. It just reminds me of some bad memories."

"It's not your fault Eagle. Everyone makes mistakes. For a first trusting Jeb." We laughed.

"Thanks Max. You have been a real friend. It's just-Ow!" she said as a jolt of electricity jolted through her body from the thing on her ankle and she slowly lost consciousness. The moment was interrupted by yelling and sirens going off in the building.

"Wonder what's going on." Max said and the doors slid open a boy with rusty brown hair opened the door along with another boy with a blond buzz cut.

"Come on we're getting you out of here. Take my hand quickly." he said holding out his hand towards Max.

"I'm not leaving without her or my Flock."

"One of the other freedom fliers is already on it. Now come on. Falcon grab the other girl with the brown and-" he stopped as he took a look at Eagle.

"Sparrow snap out of it come on! We don't want to get caught. It's bad enough we're this open." the blond boy said.

"Yeah sorry. Grab the other girl. Come on Max." Max nodded and took his hand and Falcon picked up Eagle. Max noticed they were both wearing black leather pants and black shirts on with slits in the back of them and on the front in white print it said freedom. Neither of them were wearing shoes they were bare foot except for having their feet bandaged a little probably to at least stop sharp objects.

They all ran through the halls together until they reached an exit. A girl with blond curly hair was leaning against the door holding the door open.

"it's about time. I thought I would have to drag you guys out. Now come on we left them a present. Let's go!" The girl said as she ushered everyone out of the door and they all took off. The girl had wings like an owl with distinct patterns of a northeastern forestry owl. Falcon's wings were a mixes of different shades of brown and blond. Sparrow's wings were different shades of brown. Everyone made it to were where the flock was waiting in view but far enough away from the School when a loud ear rupturing explosion erupted from the north west wing.

"Hi five Iggy!" the girl said giving Iggy a high five. "This kid really knows how to rewire a quad 347 bomb."

"So Owl which part did you exactly blow up anyway?" Sparrow asked

"The main genetics ward. You know with all the copied DNA and junk DNA."

"So where are we going now, Sparrow?" Max asked.

"Well she always said some stupid line what was it? Oh yeah 'Ask the Voice.' Whatever that means." Sparrow said.

_Max go to Yosemite National Park_

"Yosemite National Park?"Max asked confused


	5. Chapter 5 Breakout

"Owl. A little back up here?"

"It's her alright. No doubt about it."

"Wait. What?"

"We'll explain later. Let's go. Sparrow lead the way." Owl said

"Okay." Sparrow said taking the lead.

After about two hours or so of flying the group was above Yosemite.

"Okay guys follow our lead and try not to make a mistake. Our "neighbors" get upset when others come." Owl said smiling. They three started their descent with a few complex maneuvers showing certain wing patterns before landing in a cave. Next to the cave was a group of about fifteen nests with eagles in a few of them while the others were empty except for some eggs.

"Wow. It's so pretty up here! Max look! You can see everything from here!" Nudge said amazed looking at the forest scenery with mountains in the background and the sun high in the noon time sky shining with some dark clouds coming in.

"I'm pretty sure it's going to rain today but don't worry the cave is pretty big." Falcon said motioning head inside the cave.

"Then let's go already!" Gazzy said as he ran into the cave. Max shrugged and hey followed everyone else in. The cave was huge. It was equipped with all types of high tech machinery and had a couple of mattresses laid on the ground. Eagle was laid out on one of them. Another thing was that there was even a kitchen with real food in it! ((AN: lol )) The counter top was a long smoothed top side of a tree trunk, that had probably had been cut down. There was also a white medicine cabinet that looked like it had been taken from a hospital. Also a stove was next to the counter powered by a generator in the corner which also powered the lightbulbs on the ceiling.

Sparrow was cooking with Iggy for the others while Falcon was leaning against the wall. Owl had stayed with Eagle in the other "room". Max walked over to Falcon. She wanted some questions answered.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Falcon right?"

"Yup."

"So exactly who are you guys?"

"The freedom flyers. We save experiments from the companies."

"Uh huh. What about Eagle?"

"She was the leader when we were kids and then one day she went missing and we assumed the worst."

"What?!"

"We were trained as a soldier Max those who are lost may eventually found."

"I still don't think that's right."

"Eagle would have done the same thing if it was one of us. But to be honest I don't think she would have waited three days."

"Oh." A loud crash from where Eagle and Owl were made everyone jump. After that a gun went off and everyone rushed into the other room.

Eagle was on her feet with a gun pointed at Owl and then pointed it at us when we entered the room.

"I'm sick of all of these tests you bastards! Once I get up everyone of you is dead."

"Eagle calm down this is real!"

"Oh great your in this too Max. It's not real do you wanna know why? Because those people are all dead. They died six years ago in Russia!"She yelled at me. Sparrow stepped forward.

"Sparrow be careful man." Falcon murmurred to him.

"I know." he said and lunged at Eagle knocking the gun out of her hand and bringing her to the ground. Eagle extended her talons and Sparrow loosened his grip. She took that oppurtunity to kick him off of her and he landed out at the edge of the cave where it was pouring outside and the loud thunder boomed and the lightning lit up the sky. They exchanged punches Left, left, right, left hook, right, left to the diaphram, right hook, left roundhouse, right kick,right roundhouse. Over and over until Eagle knocked him to the ground. They were both panting as the rain poured against them. I flinched forward ready to pounce but Owl stopped me.

"What?"

"Don't worry Max. Sparrow knows what he is doing." she said and I looked over at them both.

"I know all of your moves before you make them, whoever you are. Now how about I see your whole face before I kill you and the others."Eagle growled at him. Eagle removed Sparrow's eye patch to reveal that his other eye was emerald with a long scar over it that ran down his face. Eagle was thrown back into the cave wall

"You shouldn't have done that Eagle. I guess I win." Sparrow sighed and walked out of the cave and opened up his wings and took off into the storm. Owl walked over to Eagle and knelt down beside her to help her up. Eagle hugged Owl as tight as she good. Owl smiled and hugged her back.

"I have missed you all so much."

"We've missed you too Eagle." Owl said getting out of the hug and helped Eagle up.

"Should we send someone after him?" Nudge asked.

"No. Sparrow just needs some time to think." Falcon replied.

"But what type of power was that?" Angel asked.

"Sparrow can control some types of the weather. Like wind, but sometimes his emotions get the better of him so the eye patch helps conceal them. So Eagle you feeling better?"

"The best in years."


	6. Chapter 6 Operation find Eagle

It was dark out when Sparrow came back. Owl and me were on watch. She had been telling me about their escape and their journeys. How they had a system similar to Fang's blog and had a place to stay basically everywhere. She told me how Eagle had taught them all how to blend in and work together. She also told me about their youngest member, Hawk and how he was three when they escaped and that he had disappeared the same day she did. Owl stood up when he made his landing.

"So I say we move out…" she said looking at her wrist pretending to have a watch on. "Now while it is still asleep."

"I see you noticed too." Sparrow said in disappointment.

"What are you talking about? What it?" I asked.

"That person in there isn't Eagle. It's a clone. They seem to be getting better at this. Max get your flock. There is only one other place she could be if she works for the US."

"How do you know that's not Eagle?"

"Max I can learn the history of something by touching it. And when that thing hugged me I didn't have to watch the first 20 seconds of memory to figure out that it wasn't Eagle."

"Okay then. Where are we headed?"

"The Itex facility in Germany. The US is serving an investigation as we speak." Sparrow said waking up Nudge quietly and the Gasman.

"And guess who's assigned to the scene?"

"Eagle's unit."

--

The base camp was about a mile away from the facility under investigation. My unit was made up of four, Private Cooper, the probie, Corporal Denis Lawrence, the tech manager, our commander, Lieutenant Colonel Eagle Pass and me, Captain Vince Marley. The lieutenant colonel is head of this mission despite she being the youngest at only twenty years old. We were goofing off in the main tent work area three of us playing poker While Eagle was sitting at her desk her desk light on looking at files of who knows what.

"Hey Marley. Why doesn't the colonel play?" cooper whispered to me.

"Coop rule number one: you leave the colonel alone and she'll leave you alone. Rule number two: do what she says never second-guess. Rule number three: never I mean never ask her about anything personal, she has the biggest temper."

"You know Marley I can hear you from over here." She said keeping her eyes glued to the file making notes every so often. One of these days I was gonna find out what those were.

"I'm going all in." Denis said in confidence.

"I fold." I said throwing my cards to the center of the table. Poker really wasn't one of my strengths.

"I'll raise you, Denis." Cooper said with confidence.

"With what you don't have any more chips to bet with."

"How about…. Loser breaks law number three."

"Alright then Cooper I'll take that." Denis said chuckling.

"Straight." Cooper said flipping over his cards and leaned back in his chair crossing his arms with a huge grin across his face.

"Sorry Cooper." Denis said flipping his cards over, "Royal flush." Cooper leaped forward from his chair examining the cards in shock. Denis and I slapped high fives and chuckled. "Sorry Coop. Now then, Marley is the LED light on?"

"Yup."

"What LED light?" Cooper asked nervously.

"Basically it's one of things that is keeping her from killing you. Remember all the procedures and precautions you have to learn before joining this unit?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Well Eagle is the reason they exist. Now go ahead." I said watching Cooper carefully approach the deck. Eagle had headphones in her ears at this point and was looking at the files. When Cooper reached the desk he looked back at me and I gave him a thumbs up. Eagle then looked up from the file and took the headphones out. Then still preoccupied addressed him in a bored tone.

Cooper POV

"What seems to be the problem private?"

"Nothing mam. I was just wondering…" I said scratching my head. Even thought she was preoccupied she scared the hell out of me but seeing how laid back Denis and Marley were I probably would get used to it.

"Wondering about what?"

I took a deep breath. "I was wondering if you could tell me about your family mam. Just to give me some peace of mind." I said making it up as I went along. She threw the file down on her desk and stood up and walked behind me. I was frozen with fear and she went next to my ear.

"Excuse me?!" she said venom seemed to be leaking out of her tone.

"Your family, mam." I said trying to stay calm. I heard a low growl come from her and footsteps run out of the tent and then a flutter of wings of what sounded like a flock of birds take off as a large breeze went through the tent. I fell to my knees, looking at the ground, scared out of my wits.

Marley pov

"Lucky man you are Cooper. I guess the General 'talked' to her last time they met after the last mission. Right Denis."

"Yeah. I guess he did. What are you doing?" Denis asked me as I sat down at Eagle's desk.

"I want to see what these files are and why she is always looking at them." I said opening the first one. It was full of pictures of the same five kids. Some of them were in color others were hidden camera photos. The kids were probably a range from I would say four to fourteen. The oldest girl looked a lot like Eagle when I first met her. "Denis take a look at these." I said passing him some photos. In some of them they were fighting but in others they were making fools of themselves. But the last one had a picture of Eagle and a boy her age with a haircut that looked like Anakin Skywalker's hair and his arms were draped around her shoulders.

I looked at the other files, which were on each of the kids in the pictures individually. I looked at each one carefully and then found Eagle's file:

Experiment #: A102

Location: USA's SSC

Avian Hybrid

Report: Escaped the Russian Facility at age 12 with experiments A103, A104, A107, and A110. Showed advanced leadership abilities and quick thinking. Evaded the radar during the constant search missions. Was able to set up systems of safe houses throughout the US by activating an untraceable signal. Was returned to Death Valley Facility two years later. Attempted another escape the day of the auction and was sedated. Currently working as an agent in the SSC under he name Eagle Pass.

I looked up to see that it had started to rain with lightning piercing the sky and Eagle's form was just outside the door. Her wings were fully extended and her hazel eyes were locked on me. She folded her wings in and I looked at Cooper who stared at her like she was a monster. I never knew she could smile until I looked at that picture but I guess her time according to the file had changed her.

"Fasten the latches down boys. Then its lights out." She said throwing her coat on the rack staring outside. "We're covering the area tomorrow."

Eagle pov

I sat at the desk staring at our group photo. All of them gone. And for the first time in a long time a tear ventured down my cheek.


End file.
